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Many people know Eusebius of Caesarea as the “Father of Church History.” But as Robert M. Grant, a modern historian of the early church period, provocatively asked, “Did the Father of Church History write history?”
The Jewish historian Doron Mendels describes Eusebius' Church History as a "media revolution" and suggests that because of his style of weaving short entries into a larger scheme, the author was "one of the fathers of the journalistic genre." Another writer concludes that Eusebius was "less a historian than a mediator of knowledge."
Or perhaps a propaganda broker. This is the man who italy mobile number called the Emperor Constantine “most beloved of God,” described the fourth-century church as brought into “a state of uniform harmony,” and called the Jews “a people who had killed the prophets and the Lord himself.”
However one assesses Eusebius's achievement, his work remains foundational to our understanding of the church in its first three centuries. And this foundation remains firm despite notable cracks.
Ground Zero
Eusebius was not only a recorder of history, but one of the key players in a significant turning point for the church. His era was marked by the "Great Persecution" under Diocletian and his co-rulers (303-311), the conversion of the Emperor Constantine (312), and the Council of Nicaea (325).